1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention concerns infrared laser devices used to simulate live ammunition in weapons during military training exercises and, more particularly, a laser simulator device for firing port weapons.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Small infrared laser weapon simulators are commonly used in a number of military battlefield training exercises such as mock combat. Typically a small infrared laser transmitter is affixed to the barrel of a weapon and aligned with the weapon sighting system. These laser transmitters discharge a brief pulse of infrared radiation in the direction the weapon is aimed, giving an indication of the point of impact for a hypothetically fired weapon projectile. Combatants wear a sensor array, typically on a harness and helmet, to detect irradiation by the laser transmitters. Electronic circuits used in conjunction with the sensors detect sensor illumination by a laser pulse and register a "hit" or a "near miss" depending on the degree of sensor illumination. When registering a "hit," some of these electronic devices sound an audio alarm that can only be silenced by deactivation of the stricken combatant's own weapon laser transmitter.
In some applications, the laser transmitter is activated by an audio report caused by the discharge of a blank cartridge in the weapon. This adds to exercise realism by limiting the number of times the laser transmitter can be "fired" to the amount of blank ammunition issued to a combatant during the course of a training exercise. Using these laser transmitters and sensors, training exercise combatants are provided with a system for assessing their accuracy against "hostile" forces and their own survival skills in combat.
In some systems, such as the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES), developed by Loral Corporation, the laser transmitter emits an encoded pulse of infrared radiation corresponding to the type of weapon system employed. Dedicated laser transmitters having weapon specific encoding are presently used in connection with a virtually complete hierarchy of military weapons systems ranging from small arms and light automatic weapons up through various types of mobil artillery and precision guided munitions as well as various types of anti-aircraft and anti-armor weapons.
In the MILES system, sensors and associated electronic circuits are provided for armored vehicles and aircraft which are capable of discerning between illumination by small arms encoded laser transmitter simulators and anti-armor or anti-aircraft encoded laser transmitter simulators. Thus, these detection systems can discriminate between relatively ineffective small arms fire and "hits" or "near misses" by potentially "lethal" anti-armor or anti-aircraft laser transmitter simulators. Some weapon systems, however, have not been amenable to the application of laser simulators. One such weapon system is the firing port weapon.
Firing port weapons are typically light automatic weapons fired through a gun port and aimed through a separate view port. These weapons are usually employed in armored vehicles such as, for example, the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The gun port is usually an armored ball and socket assembly with the firing port weapon removably disposed through an armored ball subassembly. Typically an armored vehicle will have a number of gun ports for use with one or more firing port weapons stored within the vehicle. A view port is usually located in proximity to each gun port. These view ports typically include a rugged periscope assembly disposed through an armored surface of the vehicle to provide a view from a slight distance above or to one side of the gun port.
Since the firing port weapon is usually disposed through an armored ball subassembly, the weapon cannot be aimed by simply sighting along the length of the weapon barrel. As an aid to weapon aiming, firing port weapons generally fire tracer ammunition. The weapon user can observe a tracer bullet passing through the air in the view port and aim the firing port weapon by directing the briefly observed tracer paths toward his target. Typical firing port weapon users achieve only poor accuracy without using tracer ammunition as an aiming cue.
Firing port weapons are not amenable to standard laser weapon simulators since simply affixing a laser transmitter to a forward portion of the weapon barrel provides no aiming cue for the weapons user. Further, affixing a laser transmitter to the exterior barrel precludes removal of the firing port weapon from one gun port and insertion in another gun port without first disengaging and then reattaching the laser transmitter. In addition, standard laser transmitters are susceptible to disablement in the harsh environment frequently encountered immediately exterior to an armored vehicle in a combat setting.
Thus, there exists a need for a laser simulator for firing port weapons so that such weapons can be used in training exercises, yet no laser transmitter simulator has previously been developed which can successfully serve this purpose. Such a firing port weapon laser simulator should provide an aiming cue for the weapon user and permit exchange of the firing port weapon from one gun port to another. The laser simulator should also have the capacity to "fire" at the discharge of blank ammunition in the firing port weapon.